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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Volunteer hand picks vegetables for food banks at Surrey farm

God’s Little Acre Farm has lost some crops for lack of pickers

Jas Singh at God’s Little Acre farm, at 16582 40th Ave. in Surrey.

God’s Little Acre will continue to provide food for Lower Mainland food banks and charities, following an enormous reponse to the owner’s plea for help.

The vegetable farm was seeing crops go bad in the fields because of a lack of volunteer pickers. So Jas Singh, who operates the South Surrey farm, put out a call for volunteers earlier week to ensure this year’s bounty gets to the people who need it.

The response has been overwhelming. So far, he’s received close to 200 phone calls and 140 emails from people wanting to pitch in and help.

“I’m really excited. I know this is a done deal if even half of those people show up.”

Singh started the farm three years ago, producing 20 tonnes of potatoes on a little over a hectare of land. Three years later, there is 13 hectares under production and Singh expects to produce 120 tonnes of carrots, red potatoes, green beans, mixed squash and cucumbers.

But, already, 2,000 heads of cauliflower, 1,000 heads of broccoli and 1,000 heads of lettuce have gone bad for lack of pickers.

Singh said his core group of volunteers have barely been able to keep up with day-to-day farm operations such as weeding, and he needs many more to bring in the crops.

“There’s 15,000 pounds (6.8 tonnes) of squash ready, 10 people here for an hour could knock that off,” he said.

Ideally, he’d like to see 100 volunteers every Saturday; each voluteer will receive free produce as thanks.

For the past two years, Singh has funded the farm project by driving a truck on the weekends and in the winter. This year, he has put all of his time into God’s Little Acre. For the last two months he’s been at God’s Little Acre seven days a week, from sun up to sun down.

To make the project self-sustainable, and in hopes of paying pay himself a minimal salary, Singh has grown four acres of pickling cucumbers that he is selling at $28 for 20 pounds.

This year, the project survived because of various donors, but Singh knows it can’t continue to survive on that alone.

What keeps him going? Knowing that he’s helping put fresh, locally grown produce on the kitchen tables of those in need, he said.

“I love what I’m doing here. It’s so rewarding.”

In addition to this year’s food bank bounty, Singh has also grown 27 tonnes of pumpkins for two Surrey schools that will sell them to raise money for their inner city lunch programs.

Volunteer days for picking produce are Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to dark, from now until Oct. 31. Special arrangements can be made for corporate groups. Singh can be reached at jassingh65@hotmail.com. The farm is at 16582 40th Ave.

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